Altered battlemaps in vanilla M:TW, anyone?

[naut]

Great work. I found the editor very slow and tedious so for your efforts and excellent results.

[Martok]

Very cool, Adrian II. I love that Anatolia map!

[Adrian II]

Thanks for the comments, gentlemen.

I am working on a Zeugma map right now. It could be used in Kaidonni's mod and it is meant as an encouragement for those interested in his mod.

Zeugma is the Roman name for the town of Selevkeia, founded by Selevkos I Nicator to guard the only available Euphrates crossing between Antiochia and what was known at different times as the Selevkid Kingdom, the Kingdom of Commagene and Parthia. Zeugma was always a major town and strategic asset. King Antiochus III of Syria held his wedding there in in 221 BC. In 53 BC general Crassus stormed the Zeugma bridge and was defeated by the Parthians. Around 49 AD the Romans based a legion in a huge castellum in the hills above Zeugma.

Overlooking the valley on the western side is Belkis tepe, an old temple mount originally dedicated to Tyche. On the shores on either side are the old pastachio orchards, the pride of the local peasantry. Down river from the bridge on the western side is Zeugma town, up river on the eastern side is its sister town Apamea. In the background on the eastern side will be the rugged Anatolian plateau.

Yes, I love Turkey's historical grounds, a cradle of civilisations since the Hittites.

'Zeugma' would be a bridge battle for those attacking Antioch out of (MTW province of) Edessa. But I hate no-brainer bridge battles, so I am playing a bit with the batinit set-up. I am not changing the code (which would be generic for all bridge battles), I just adapt the map. I place the bridge slightly further north on the battlemap so as to avoid the predictability of most MTW bridge battles. Before the battle can be joined the defender will have to rush quite a distance to get to his defensive positions, which forces him to adapt his army composition (more cavalry, less spears) and gives the attacker a break at the start of the game. In fact both players will be rushing for the bridge, the defender having the advantage of height and some minor fortifications, and the disadvantage of a fully built-up area his side of the bridge

As soon as I can I will edit this 'ere message to post a screenie of my effort.

[dimitrios the samian]

Hello Adrian II ,, It looks like there is a new person keen to take over were Kaidonni left off ,, Perhaps you can go to that thread and let him know of your good news ,, cheers ,, DTS

[Caliburn]

A nice project, I'd say. As a player who never plays sieges, the new buildings and stuff do not exactly seem important. I'd love to see some new basic battle maps, as after years and years of playing on the same maps the battles seem to repeat again and again. The Anatolia bridge thing looks a lot of fun, I think having lots of small hills in stead of large ones creates a lot of variety to the tactical aspect - I mean hills that can accommodate maybe one or two units, and valleys in between, making single unit movement more interesting.

It makes using Horse Archers a lot more fun, as well as allows for a series of small tactical decisions - instead of thinking "shall I place my army on a hill" it would be more like "if my main line is placed atop of these hills, I can screen my archers behind this hill so that their crossbows won't be able to shoot me".

Maybe I should give it a go myself... Nah, too lazy.